Experience

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Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event. The history of the word experience aligns it closely with the concept of experiment.

The concept of experience generally refers to know-how or procedural knowledge, rather than propositional knowledge. Philosophers dub knowledge based on experience "empirical knowledge" or "a posteriori knowledge".

The interrogation of experience has a long tradition in continental philosophy. Experience is an important aspect of the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard. The German term Erfahrung, often translated into English as "experience" has a slightly different implication, connoting the coherency of life's experiences.

A person with considerable experience in a certain field can gain a reputation as an expert.

Certain religious traditions (such as types of Buddhism, Surat Shabd Yoga and mysticism) and educational paradigms with, for example, the conditioning of boot camps, stress the experiential nature of human epistemology. This stands in contrast to alternatives: traditions of dogma, logic or reasoning. Activities such as tourism, extreme sports and recreational drug use also tend to stress the importance of experience.

For more information about Experience, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with experiences

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Discovering addiction clues could help smokers kick the habit

Discovering addiction clues could help smokers kick the habit

Medicine & Health / Health

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- If you've ever tried to quit smoking, understanding how you got hooked in the first place probably seems irrelevant. But University of Nebraska-Lincoln psychologist Rick Bevins believes those ...


When virtual reality feels real

When virtual reality feels real (w/Video)

Technology / Computer Sciences

created May 11, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Despite advances in computer graphics, few people would think virtual characters or objects are real. Yet placed in a virtual reality environment most people will interact with them as if they are really there. ...


Stranger knows best: Other people know more about what will make us happy than we do

Stranger knows best: Other people know more about what will make us happy than we do

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Mar 19, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Want to know what will make you happy? Then ask a total stranger -- or so says a new study from Harvard University, which shows that another person's experience is often more informative than ...


MIT develops camera for the blind

Researchers develop camera for the blind

Technology / Engineering

created Jan 12, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Elizabeth Goldring smiles as she shows a visitor photos she's taken — and can see — with her blind eye.


'It takes 2 to know 1': Shared experiences change self-recognition

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Jan 07, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Looking at yourself in the mirror every morning, you never think to question whether the person you see is actually you. You feel familiar—at home with your own unique self image. After all, you have been sporting the same ...


Married with children the key to happiness?

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Oct 27, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Having children improves married peoples' life satisfaction and the more they have, the happier they are. For unmarried individuals, raising children has little or no positive effect on their happiness. These findings by ...


Buying experiences, not possessions, leads to greater happiness

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Feb 08, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 2

Can money make us happy if we spend it on the right purchases? A new psychology study suggests that buying life experiences rather than material possessions leads to greater happiness for both the consumer and those around ...


Early childhood stress has lingering effects on health

Medicine & Health / Health

created Jan 26, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Stressful experiences in early childhood can have long-lasting impacts on kids' health that persist well beyond the resolution of the situation.


Selflessness, core of all major world religions, has neuropsychological connection

Medicine & Health / Research

created Dec 17, 2008 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (19) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- All spiritual experiences are based in the brain. That statement is truer than ever before, according to a University of Missouri neuropsychologist. An MU study has data to support a neuropsychological model ...


Psychiatric impact of torture could be amplified by head injury

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Nov 06, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Depression and other emotional symptoms in survivors of torture and other traumatic experiences may be exacerbated by the effects of head injuries, according to a study from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma (HPRT), based ...


Grant to Design Neutrino Detector

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 14, 2009 | popularity 2.8 / 5 (4) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- A consortium led by UC Davis physics professor Robert Svoboda will design the world's largest neutrino detector under a $4.4 million contract recently awarded by the National Science Foundation.


New brain stimulation treatment may offer hope for those with treatment resistant depression

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A new neurosurgical procedure may prove helpful for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Bilateral epidural prefrontal cortical stimulation (EpCS) was found generally safe and provided significant improvement of ...


Do experiences or material goods make us happier?

Other Sciences / Other

created Feb 23, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Should I spend money on a vacation or a new computer? Will an experience or an object make me happier? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says it depends on different factors, including how materialistic you ...


Witnessing violence affects kids' health

Medicine & Health / Health

created Apr 21, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

School-aged children who witness violence in urban communities show symptoms of post-traumatic stress. They also suffer physiological effects with a disruption to their normal cortisol production pattern during the day, which ...


Anthropologist examines stigma of infertility in Nigeria

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Apr 23, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

In sub-Saharan Africa, the issue of infertility is often obscured by the region's high fertility rates. Though problematic, particularly for women, little is known about how different regions understand and respond to infertility ...